The Piano Man

Well my boy, I just need to start this letter by stating how the Lord surely accepts your sacrifice. 

Why do I say that? Probably because I felt acute guilt and deprivation of you on Friday night. Obviously I’m talking about our trip to Denver to see Billy Joel. Yes, without you. The part that stands out most to me was as the main set ended, he donned his harmonica rig, and started to play Piano Man. By this time in the concert I was fully immersed, I had been to the revival and I was converted and really feeling it. His voice has aged so well and may be better than ever, his band mates are all virtuosos, the weather was hot, the sound was incredible. But as the harmonica melody began, my mind flashed with memories of you playing it at our piano at home, of my amazement after you bought your harmonica rig and learned both parts, my bursting pride that time you and Ben played for the family in the music room, and just how cool you were when you played it in that video your branch president sent us from Clovis. I know this will sound mellow dramatic with dubious sincerity, but in all those emotions and the joy of the experience I couldn’t stop crying. In that moment I missed you so much. I know you are where the Lord wants you at this moment kid. But for that song, I wanted you with me. I can’t promise anything, life changes so much so fast, but if we ever get another opportunity to see him after your return, we’ll do our best to go.

So I’ll get back to the concert later, and I figure your brothers have likely sent details that got by me, but I’ll start my boring old dad letter here.

This week: hot and busy. Both work and my calling were busy, which is a great thing. Mom’s busy with all of the intense mom stuff she’s doing. Thursday night stood out as a fun night because mom and I went to get stuff for the trips—drinks, fruit, snacks and what-nots. It was the first time in a while where I had her to myself for a little while. Before we went to Sam’s Club she wanted new shoes, so we went to the Sketchers store. I only mention that because it marks another waypoint on my way to being elderly. Why? Because I bought the kind of shoes I’ve mocked since their invention—the kind with fake shoelaces that you can put on without bending down. Embarrassing? Perhaps. Awesome? Abso-freaking-lutely. I’m planning on getting another pair soon.

Friday morning came fast with my alarm set at 4:25 am. I got up, pooped, showered, and dressed in 15 minutes, I know, uncharacteristically speedy for you almost elderly pops. We were in the car by about 5:15 and off we went. We took the southern route via Green River and I-70. I’ve never been that way before. We made it to Grand Junction, Colorado for our first stop for gas and breakfast. We had a new experience at Mc, Steak and Egg McMuffins. It must be new because we waited forever for them. To cut the suspense, they were over cooked, dry, and a little chewy. Made me wonder if they were leftover, recooked, day-old hamburger patties. Wendy’s does a better job recycling theirs in their chili. This was a rare McDonald’s failure.

The road over the mountains was pretty and entertaining to drive, including the hour long detour through a high mountain valley because of the eastbound freeway being closed due to a crash. Denver is big, way bigger than I would have guessed. I always thought it was a bigger SLC. Wrong, it’s more like Seattle or Atlanta or a real city like those. Don’t get me wrong, I love the town I grew up in, but it’s not nearly as cool and hip as Denver. 

Our hotel was in the middle of town. It was good, not great. No fan in the bathroom and an AC unit that should have worked better. It was also trying really hard to be cool. Every floor had a different theme. Ours was super heroes. I was underwhelmed. Your uncle’s may have been excited though.

We had some time after check-in so Ben found a restaurant about a block away. It was an old style diner. We all got breakfast, it was decent. Then we walked a couple of more blocks to get ice cream, now that was good.

It was hovering around 100 by that point so we went back to the room. It was bearable compared to outside, and I got a badly needed snooze. We left for the venue, Coor’s Field where the Rockies play was about a mile walk. What’s cool about Denver is that everything seems really close to the center of town and there’s a lot going on with restaurants everywhere. There seems to be a lot of younger people downtown, and also a lot of vagrants. Just like any good big city. Coor’s Field seemed a lot like the Ranger’s stadium in Arlington in architecture and size. It was another concert with a crowd that was notably older than even your dad. I sorta hate seeing that much exposed anatomy from a crowd of that age, especially when presented with sunburn and sweat. We got in line for the traditional poster and keychain purchase, then found our seats.

Now floor seats row 10 sounds impressive. Mind you, I’m not complaining, but they were way left of the stage and I could barely make out Billy Joel. But those annoyances faded as the lights went down and the sound came up. The show was incredible, here’s a set list:

The Natural (The End Title) (Randy Newman song)

Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)

Pressure

Vienna

The Entertainer

Zanzibar

Start Me Up (The Rolling Stones cover) (Partial)

An Innocent Man

Don't Ask Me Why

A Room of Our Own

Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh cover)

New York State of Mind

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) (With “Old Man River” intro)

Allentown

My Life

Sometimes a Fantasy

Only the Good Die Young

Surfin' U.S.A. (The Beach Boys cover) (Partial)

The River of Dreams (with Ellie Greenwich's "River Deep, Mountain High” interlude, vocals by Crystal Taliefero)

Nessun dorma (Giacomo Puccini cover) (Sung by Mike DelGuidice)

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

Piano Man

Encore:

We Didn't Start the Fire

Uptown Girl

It's Still Rock and Roll to Me

Big Shot

You May Be Right

The highlights for me, in addition to Piano Man were Start Me Up, because he introduced it by saying, “I’m no Mick Jagger!” Which he’s not, he moves like a 75 year old man, but he sings and plays just as well, if not better; An Innocent Man, because he introduced it by warning us he may not be able to hit the high notes—he did; a beach ball bounced up out of the crowd and he grabbed it, set it on top of his piano and started playing Surfin’ USA, I think it was impromptu because it took a few beats before the band played in; Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, just because it’s awesome; and You May Be Right, because they broke into Led Zeplin’s Rock and Roll. 

When we got back to the room and it was warm. But we were tired and went to bed. When I woke up to pee I was drenched. I checked the thermostat and it was set to 48, but it was set to The heat mode. So I switched it to cool, it would only go to 68, but it was a huge improvement.

We didn’t get up too early, but didn’t sleep in either. We went to the historic Molly Brown house, but didn’t want to pay admission for another old house. We liked being in the car so we drove to look for the Temple. It was pretty, it reminded me of a smaller Jordan River temple. After that the boys suggested that we tour the Broncos Stadium. It was cool. 

After that we went to dinner at the Buckhorn Exchange restaurant. It’s remarkably the oldest restaurant in Denver. It’s known for its steaks and, well, bull testies. Yes, Rocky Mountain oysters. The food was good, including the balls, but it was so expensive. We’re talking Blue Bayou expensive. But hey, it was our summer vacation. Afterwards we were tired but didn’t want to go back to our warm room so we went to the movies. We saw the Quiet Place: Day One. It was pretty good.

On our way to the movies Jacob saw that Trump had been shot. He was hit in the ear, I’m honestly not sure how he wasn’t more seriously injured . We worried that it was going to galvanize the country for Trump, and it might. But what’s mostly in the news now is that the country needs to unify, and tone down the hostility. That’s coming from both sides, so hopefully there will be a good outcome to all of this. And hopefully, he will still lose the election.

They shot the kid that shot him. He was 20 years old, a republican, and a gun enthusiast. I would never compare someone like that to you or your brothers, but the things the Lord gives and teaches us through the gospel gives us a foundation to understand what’s important in life, to know that we are sons of God. To make sure that we never put anything in front of Him. You are giving up a lot Joe, but we are not capable of comprehending how much we are going to get back. This kid killed a man in the crowd that was a fire fighter and a dad. He died covering up his family. Another person is in a coma. I can’t imagine the agony the shooters parents must be going through. They are probably wishing that the only thing they had to mourn was his death.

Wow, what a downer thing to end the letter with. We live  in a really full, rich time. Our politicians like to scare us, in essence to make us forget how blessed we are so that they can advance their own ambitions. Sounds like what the Book of Mormon warns us about huh? Just keep telling those people around you how blessed we are, how much their Heavenly Father loves them. How much he has for them.

Well kid, enough of that, I love you. See you tomorrow.

Pops